From incorporating entities, creating business models, and complying with employment and property laws and statutory filings, to establishing subsidiaries, securing regulatory approvals, and negotiating business contracts and leases, the Firm’s general corporate advisory practice aims to offer its Clients comprehensive support from start to finish.
We help Clients identify and reduce legal risks and liability at every level and keep them informed about regulatory changes that could affect their business.
On commercial contracts, we have a specialisation whereby, we map contracts to ascertain if every aspect of your business is covered under the contracts. We also standardize contracts to ensure sufficiency as we understand the usual difficulties a company may face from a strategic, operational and financial perspective. Our scope includes conducting negotiations on pertinent clauses of such contracts.
We offer advice on corporate governance matters to listed companies, financial institutions, institutional investors, private equity players, board committees, and directors.
We conduct compliance audits and review laws that apply to the legal entity as they pursue business operations, to help them determine the extent of compliance, and to help in aligning to the requirements of law.
The Firm has a super specialization in all aspects of Foreign Exchange Law, including structuring of Foreign Direct Investments and External Commercial Borrowings into India, as well as guiding Clients in transactions involving Imports, and Exports. The firm also supports with the structuring of investments outside India.
Our Team has extensive expertise in providing solutions with respect to various complexities of applicable laws, investment structures, obtaining regulatory approvals, drafting legal opinions, audit as well as meeting compliance and reporting requirements. The Firm handles all matters related to the Reserve Bank of India and the Enforcement Directorate.
The Firm’s dedicated Mergers and Acquisitions practice involves end-to-end assistance for our Clients on a wide range of share purchases, shareholders’ agreements, asset purchases, business transfers and slump sale transactions including the following:
Structuring the overall deal by addressing the issues along with advisory on applicable laws;
Conduct of legal due diligence process with sector-specific nuances;
Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating relevant documents including letters of intent, term sheets, non-disclosure/confidentiality agreements, followed by transaction documents such as share purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements, business transfer agreements and shareholders agreements etc;
Drafting, reviewing and negotiating ancillary documents such as employment agreements, ESOP structuring and other documents;
Undertake all actions required from a filing perspective i.e. with the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and other statutory/regulatory authorities;
Ensuring compliance under the Indian Companies Act 2013, the SEBI Regulations, RBI Master Directions and the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999;
Amalgamations, and court related demergers and restructuring; and
Filing and representing before the relevant courts of law/tribunals for approval of merger process.
The Joint Venture practice of the Firm adds a significant touch in terms of structuring and advising strategic alliances at every stage including:
Advisory on entry of foreign companies desiring to invest in India;
Structuring deals;
Drafting/vetting of the Joint Venture Agreements, the Share Subscription Agreements, the Shareholders’ Agreements as well as ancillary documents such as Technology licensing agreements, operations and management agreements, etc., offering end-to-end assistance on resolving complicated issues that arise in each of these stages;
Supporting on Exit from Joint Venture;
All other matters arising out of the Joint Venture.
The team of legal specialists at the Firm recurrently assist the Clients on the structuring of their Funds, including the choice of domicile and vehicle, based on various factors, and any legal and/or financial risks resulting from the planned asset class or classes in which the fund will invest. We assist in:
Structuring of the investment transaction at an overall level;
Conduct of extensive legal due diligence;
Assistance in drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and finalizing the transaction documentation, including term sheets, confidentiality agreements, share subscription agreements, share purchase agreements, shareholders agreements and other connected documents;
Exit strategies and assisting in the implementation of business plans; and
Closing obligations and secretarial actionable items.
The Firm has an extensive litigation practice and handles cases before all courts, including the Supreme Court, High Courts, and other Courts and Tribunals such as the NCLT, NCLAT, DRT, DRAT, and others. We specialize in amalgamations, demergers, restructuring, shareholder disputes, recoveries, and more.
Our pre-litigation strategies, our associations with leading senior counsels in India and our stagewise updates, help our Clients make better decisions.
The Firm’s expertise lies in its vast knowledge of handling cases with respect to the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, The Consumer Protection Act 1986, etc.
The Firm handles cases on alternate dispute resolution mechanisms as well. Our team represents Clients who prefer to settle the dispute through such mechanisms, through arbitration and mediation proceedings in all practice areas, including assistance in seeking any injunctive relief from the courts prior to, during, and post-arbitration proceedings, and proceedings in court for enforcement of arbitral awards, smooth resolution of the disputes at mediation proceedings by providing succinct solutions.
From general regulatory compliance to transaction-related advice, drafting/reviewing of policies, data processing agreements, and other related documents, cross-border data transfers and disclosures, government access requests, data security and breach notification, data retention, use of new age technologies, and defence against investigations and proceedings regarding privacy/data protection violations or security failures, we provide our Clients with legal advice on all aspects of privacy laws and data protection.
We guide the Corporates and assist in the formulation of privacy policies, terms and conditions/terms of use for their websites and web-based applications in line with their business models/offerings so as to align the data collection, storage, retention, and processing of the same under the applicable laws such as the Information Technology Act 2000 read with the relevant rules, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) rules, General Data Protection Regulation, EU (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, 1996 of the USA (HIPAA), etc.
In terms of The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (notified on 11.08.2023 and yet to take effect), we assist our Clientele comprising of data fiduciaries, data processors as well as data principals to ensure compliance with the said Act, as part of our “Prevention is better than Cure” approach by: (a) Legal Assessment and mapping; and (b) Assistance in Implementation of the Act.
The Firm’s intellectual property team comprises lawyers who have a penchant for technology and market trends in this competitive world. It is this right blend of these distinct sectors that makes Clients choose our Firm to entrust us with their requirements on this subject matter.
Our passion-driven approach has helped a lot of Clients in protecting and valuing their intellectual assets at a substantial level.
Our scope of services includes:
Ascertaining the intellectual asset: identifying the right IP for the concerned business/purpose, strategical planning on IP protection, conducting extensive searches to ascertain availability to register and use IPs, analysing the reasons for past rejections, search on past filings and registration process;
Representations before the relevant statutory/regulatory authorities with respect to a registered trademark/copyright/design or a to-be registered IP such as infringement cases, rejected marks, abandoned marks, etc;
Conducting extensive due diligence and provision of reports/status on the IP;
Advising, drafting reply notices received from statutory/regulatory authorities and issuance of cease-and-desist notices;
Drafting, negotiating, vetting, and finalizing transactions that involve IP so as to ensure optimum utilisation of revenue by the Client, stemming from an acquisition, investment, or a joint venture concerning the sale/license of trademarks, copyrights, designs, technology transfer agreements, software development/services agreements, service level agreements, etc.
Indian employment laws encompass a wide range of central and state-specific employment statutes, regulatory measures, and judicial rulings. The applicability of these statutes depends on various factors, including the industry sector, the type of work performed by employees, the size of the workforce, pay scales, and the length of service.
In addition to offering strategic, board-level advice on employment-related and compliance matters, we also support human resources departments and in-house counsels on a daily basis and help manage employment risks at all levels.
Our expertise lies in dealing with the following:
Offer Letters, Employment agreements, Employee related policies, employee handbook/code of conduct, employee severance, structuring of compensation and benefits from a legal standpoint, consulting and secondment arrangements, termination of contracts, work for hire agreements, Agreements on sub-contracting, Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements;
Drafting and negotiating employment agreements for key managerial personnel as a result of an acquisition or investment transaction;
Advisory on the constitution of internal committees such as Internal Complaints Committee, Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Work Committee, etc;
Handling of employment litigation, mediation and dispute resolution;
Advisory, Structuring, Drafting, and implementation of Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs);
Employment law training exercises for all employees including HR personnel through workshops/sessions.
The firm assists in drafting and reviewing various contracts and agreements related to real estate transactions, ensuring they are structured properly to reflect the intentions of the parties involved including but not limited to,
Title Disputes and Fraudulent Property Transactions
Land Acquisition Disputes
Encroachment Issues
Disputes Related to Property Possession and Ownership
Non-Compliance with Statutory Regulations
Disputes Related to Project Delays and Defects
Non-Compliance with RERA Regulations
